City execs: iPad Taxpayers: iPay

CEBU, Philippines - For its officials to be “interconnected” online, the Cebu City government yesterday distributed the latest tablet equipped with unlimited data service for two years.

The 30 iPad Air comes free for every P2,000 monthly data plan offered by Smart Communications, which the city must pay for two years, or for a cost of at least P1.4 million.

In an interview, Mayor Michael Rama said the gadgets, which have long been planned, are needed for him to connect with the department heads and other officials who hold major roles at City Hall.

“The world is already interconnected. Anything that brings connectivity brings productivity,” he told reporters.

The city government, he said, should also continuously strive to make its employees “literate.”

“This is now the trend. The world will no longer be going back to primitive (ways), but (move towards) sophistication,” the mayor said, adding that he also now owns an iPad.

Rama cited as example Malacañang, whose officials are also equipped with the newest gadgets that are vital for communication.

He said the amount for the 30 iPad Air will be charged to the General Services Office (GSO) fund.

The city Management Information and Computer Services (MICS) were still configuring the programs and apps of several units for immediate distribution when The FREEMAN dropped by.

Engineer Conrado Ordesta III, MICS chief, said that aside from department heads, all the iPads were to be given also to the heads of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor, the Market Division, the Protocol Office, the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, and to Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, among others.

Ordesta said the iPads were subscribed to unlimited data service, which means they would always have a 24-hour Internet connection as long as there is a mobile phone signal available.

He said procurement of the gadgets was the idea of City Administrator Lucelle Mercado, who wanted interconnectivity in the sending of memoranda and/or notices to city officials.

Interviewed separately, Mercado admitted to the idea, saying that with the iPad Air, key city officials and department heads can immediately read the memos sent to them via email.

“High tech na man ‘ta karon,” she said.

Mercado clarified that the City Hall owns the gadgets so they have to be returned if ever the officials they are issued to would no longer be connected with the city government.

Asked if she thinks the city might be criticized again for procuring the items, considering that the city has other more pressing financial obligations to settle, Mercado said she has already expected this.

“They (critics) can come to my office anytime and I will explain it to them. Really, it’s never the person; it’s the functionality (of the gadgets). And mga department heads man sad ni,” she said. —/RHM (FREEMAN)